


somebody to wait for

by smartbuckley



Series: Buddie Tumblr Prompts [24]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Botanist Evan "Buck" Buckley, Call Fic, Established Relationship, M/M, Sick Evan "Buck" Buckley, dangerous plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley
Summary: “Why are you always the first one to walk into danger, Buck?” Buck hears Eddie ask and Buck lets out a small snort, shaking his head briefly.“Because there’s someone waiting for you at home, Eddie,” Buck responds, and he hates the frown that forms on Eddie’s face, hates how he shakes his head.“When are you going to realize, Buckley, that you have two people waiting for you to come home, man,” Eddie whispers, his voice breaking and Buck continues to frown, wishing he could press himself against Eddie and hold him tightly.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Buddie Tumblr Prompts [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528010
Comments: 14
Kudos: 357





	somebody to wait for

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this! I don't think it followed the prompt all that well, but I definitely enjoy it, so I hope you guys do too. If I missed any tags, just let me know, though generally, this is a pretty fluffy fic.
> 
> **Original Prompt** : _Prompt: The 118 is called to this lab where some kind of mishap has happened. Eddie and Buck are checking out one of the glass walled rooms when Buck shoves Eddie back just as the door shuts. Eddie is horrified to see Buck trapped and worse there is some kind of unknown agent that has been spilled. Tense hours pass, Eddie refusing to leave Buck's side and feeling his heart get ripped out when Buck starts making goodbye messages in case he doesn't get out, especially the one to Chris._

They’ve just sat down and started to eat breakfast when they get the call, the sirens blaring in a way that has Buck groaning in aggravation as he sets down his fork and knife, rubbing his face before he gets up and rushes to the truck, pulling him up inside and quickly sitting down next to Eddie with a small sigh, smiling softly when he feels Eddie’s hand on his thigh, squeezing and rubbing in order to calm him down. They haven’t been able to eat much since dinner the previous night, as it’s been call after call after call, and Buck knows that every one of his teammates had been looking forward to eating breakfast this morning, if only so they could have a moment of relaxation. But to have Eddie trying to comfort him in this moment -- 

Their relationship is still fairly new - both men having had to deal with the fallout of the lawsuit and the street fighting and everything in between before they managed to start a relationship with one another - but Buck feels the heat of Eddie’s palm on his thigh regardless of the gear he has on and turn towards his boyfriend, thankful before he turns towards Bobby.

“What do we have, Cap?” He asks, placing his hand on top of Eddie’s and interlacing their fingers together, if only so they can have a brief moment, ignoring the way Hen and Chimney grin at the sight.

“Weird smell coming from a house. As far as we know, the house has been abandoned for a few months, and it’s not a gas leak. Caller thinks it might be a dead body.” Bobby responds and Buck finds himself frowning, turning to look at a confused Eddie, who has one of his eyebrows arched.

“And they called us instead of the police?” Buck ends up asking, shifting a little as Hen and Chimney turn to look towards Bobby themselves, curious to the answer.

“They haven’t gone in the home to check if it’s a dead body, and police have been dispatched, so they didn’t just  _ call us _ ,” Bobby responds with a snort as Buck turns a nice tinge of red before he makes a face at Bobby’s back, grinning when Bobby turns towards him with his eyebrow raised.

“We’ll be there in about seven minutes,” he ends up responding after a minute, and Buck nods before turning towards Eddie and watching him in silence, ignoring the way Eddie turns back at him and tries to get him to laugh.

“What do you guys have planned for tonight when your shift is done?” Hen asks after a few minutes and Buck turns towards her, a small smile on his face as he straightens his body, pulling his hand away from Eddie’s as he excitedly talks about their plans - building a fort with Christopher and watching numerous movies together inside of it.

Hen quickly joins in his excitement, talking about all of the forts she’s built with her own kid, and before Buck knows it, the truck is rolling to a stop and Bobby is telling them to hurry it up, and Buck grins at his friend before getting out, pulling the door open and swinging from it briefly until Eddie grabs hold of it with a fond shake of his head, both men turning towards Bobby when they’re completely cleared from the truck and in front of him -- and the house.

“What the hell,” Buck says with wide eyes, “No one mentioned it was a greenhouse,” he adds, jumping on the spot as excitement courses through him and Bobby looks at him carefully. Not many people know that Buck has a green thumb and that he doesn’t mind spending his time off gardening, and seeing a greenhouse like this in such a populated area of Los Angeles, Buck can’t help but feel excited over seeing it in general.

“Yeah, it would have been nice to know it was a greenhouse, but that’s fine. Buck, Eddie - take the first floor. Hen, Chimney, take the basement. Apparently there’s no second floor or upper floor in general, so I’ll be looking around outside. Call on your radios if you spot anything,” Bobby says and everyone nods in response to the orders before making their way through the home. Buck tries his best not to get too caught up in the beauty of the plants, flowers, vines and other greenery he spots inside the home, but he doesn’t do a great job when Eddie has to grab his arm a few times to stop him from walking into plants, vines or the like.

“I am very lucky you’re here,” Buck chuckles after it happens the third time, ignoring the way Eddie snorts and tilts his head before chuckling himself.

“Yeah well, someone has to watch your back,” Eddie says and Buck lets out a snort himself before he turns the corner, blinking when he spots glass walls instead of normal walls, a grin forming on his face when he sees what’s inside. Built in the middle of the greenhouse, in the darkest corners of the home it appears, is one glass wall that leads into a room with normal walls and no windows, black sheets hanging up on the walls themselves.

“Looks like whoever lived here first might have been experimenting,” Buck says, though mostly to himself as he looks around the room with a small frown. “But what they would have been experimenting with -- that’s the question,” he adds on, stepping inside of the glass room carefully, frowning harder when he doesn’t notice anything of too much importance though he  _ does _ smell something awful. Placing his hand under his nose, Buck wishes he had thought to grab an oxygen mask or something, walking around the room carefully before his eyes widen when he sees an array of poisonous plants - by smell, touch or ingestion.

“Shit,” he curses, turning around, bumping into Eddie, who's looking at him in confusion.

“What--” Eddie begins but before he can continue, Buck quickly pushes him out of the room, closing the door between them and locking it, cringing when he hears Eddie ask him what’s going on, panic clear in his voice. He eyes the plants in the room carefully, noticing that while none of them are dangerous to him by inhaling, all of them are indeed dangerous in general, and he lets out a small groan before breathing and turning around to face Eddie.

“It’s -- there’s a lot of dangerous plants in here, Eddie, so I need you to get the team. And then maybe have someone call a botanist,” Buck says, ignoring the way his heart pounds at Eddie’s look, and the way he blinks his eyes.

“Why is it okay for you to be in there and not me?” Eddie asks, a frown on his face as Buck smiles softly at his boyfriend.

“Because I know what plants really need to be avoided. I also know why the caller thought there was a dead body in here. You don’t, babe,” Buck snorts and he watches as Eddie lets out a small breath before he nods, grabbing hold of his walkie and calling for the rest of the team, letting his hand fall when he’s done and everyone has confirmed that they’re on their way.

It doesn’t take long for the rest of the team to appear in front of Buck and Eddie, confusion clear on their faces though Hen’s settles after she spots all of the plants, her eyebrow rising as she realizes just what’s going on.

“What happened?” Bobby asks and Buck lets out a soft breath, moving towards the wall near everyone before he opens his mouth to begin explaining.

“All of these plants? Extremely poisonous, and extremely rare. I don’t even know how the owner of this place managed to get these plants in the country in the first place, because they’re no doubt illegal because of how dangerous they are.” Buck begins, shaking his head before he continues onward, “The smell is coming from those two plants over there - though how they’re even thriving here, is surprising,” Buck responds, tilting his head towards two plants spanning four to six feet each. One plant is a dark red with a white bloom in the middle, another a bright red-orange color, and as Buck watches everyone take the plants in, he can’t help but wonder what they’re thinking.

“So why are you locking yourself in there?” Chimney asks with a frown and Buck lets out a soft sigh, shaking his head once more before quirking his upper lip in a small smirk.

“Because I’m the one with the green thumb. I know which of these plants are poisonous by touch or ingestion, so I know which ones not to touch,” Buck says with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Why can’t we wear gloves and join you?” Hen asks and Buck frowns, shaking his head, “These are incredibly rare plants, Hen. Plants that are usually only found during specific times of the year, or in specific areas of the world. While I have no doubt that gloves could work, I would worry a lot about the delicacy of the plants themselves,” Buck responds and he can see Hen nodding her head in understanding and he’s thankful that, if anything, she’s willing to trust him on this.

“So what, we just wait for the botanist to get here and do-- what, exactly?” Bobby asks and Buck lets out a small breath because if he’s being honest, he doesn’t really know.

“Figure out what to do with these plants, after figuring out how long they’ve been in bloom,” Buck responds with after a few moments, letting out a small chuckle when he sees Bobby’s face scrunch up.

“The dead body smell the caller called in about? It’s coming from these plants. It’s how you  _ know _ they’re in bloom,” Buck responds, remembering the books he’s read about the plants when he was first learning about his love for greenery. 

“And then there are other plants that emit smells just in general, which could definitely be overwhelming,” Buck admits, rubbing his head because yeah, some of the scents are giving him a small headache, and he knows that he’ll need to sit down eventually.

“So, you’re just staying put?” Bobby asks with a small frown on his face and Buck knows his captain doesn’t like the idea of it, but there’s nothing he can do about that.

“Yes, Cap. There’s nothing else that can be done. And as much as I trust you guys on calls, I just don’t trust you guys with plants,” Buck responds with a small chuckle, shrugging his shoulders as Bobby nods.

Buck watches the rest of his team quietly for a few minutes, a little surprised that they’re okay with him staying in there, with nothing happening to get him out, but when he looks over at Eddie, he notices the panic in his boyfriend’s eyes and can’t help but feel a little guilty, biting the inside of his cheek before stepping up to him and placing his hand on the glass wall, smiling when Eddie follows suit, closing his eyes briefly.

“Why are you always the first one to walk into danger, Buck?” Buck hears Eddie ask and Buck lets out a small snort, shaking his head briefly.

“Because there’s someone waiting for you at home, Eddie,” Buck responds, and he hates the frown that forms on Eddie’s face, hates how he shakes his head.

“When are you going to realize, Buckley, that you have  _ two _ people waiting for you to come home, man,” Eddie whispers, his voice breaking and Buck continues to frown, wishing he could press himself against Eddie and hold him tightly.

“I--” Buck begins before closing his mouth and tilting his head at Eddie slowly, realization settling deep into his bones as he thinks over Eddie’s words.

“We don’t live together?” He says, a small chuckle escaping from him as Eddie snorts once more, shaking his head.

“We might as well live together with how often you’re at my home, Buck,” Eddie whispers and Buck knows that’s true - if only because he remembers brushing his teeth in Eddie’s bathroom before coming into work.

“Point is, Buck - you have  _ us _ . Christopher and me. We’re waiting for you to come home to us, man. So stop throwing yourself into dangerous situations because you think you have no one waiting for you, because that is the furthest thing from the truth,” Eddie continues and Buck can feel his eyes watering, his body trembling.

“Eddie,” Buck whispers, shaking his head and Buck can hear Eddie let out a shaky laugh, shaking his own head as he wiped his eyes, clearly trying not to let any tears fall. 

“I love you, querido,” Eddie chuckles and Buck can’t help but let out a small grin at the words.

“I love you too, ukochany, though I’m pretty sure I much rather be telling you that in bed instead of through a glass wall,” Buck admits and he can see Eddie tilt his head acknowledgement, a small laugh escaping from him once more.

“It’s not…” Eddie begins and Buck looks up at him, wiping his own eyes before frowning at the way Eddie stops, trying to find a way to word his questions.

“You being in there for long isn’t dangerous, is it?: Eddie asks and Buck shakes his head, smiling.

“I’ll probably get a headache at most from the scents, but as long as I don’t touch or ingest anything, I should be good,” Buck responds and he can see Eddie nodding his head, relief flashing through his eyes as Buck smiles

“And you’re sure you won’t let me in with you?” Eddie asks and Buck shakes his head, a small smirk forming.

“Us being both in danger would not be good for Christopher,” Buck responds, and his heart pounds fast in his chest over the look Eddie gives him, something soft in his features that has Buck turning a slight red.

The two continue to stare at one another for a few minutes before Buck jumps in surprise over the sound of Bobby’s throat clearing, his cheeks turning more red than before as his hand comes up to run his fingers through his hair.

“Alright, I just got off the phone with a botanist --” Buck gives Bobby a confused look, making Bobby chuckle and Hen snort, Buck turning to look at her quickly before looking back at Bobby, eyebrows furrowed, “While you two were caught up in one another, I talked to Athena, who talked to someone, who talked to someone else - either way - A botanist should be here shortly to help,” Bobby says and Buck nods, opening his mouth a little before letting out a small breath.

“Shouldn’t be too long, then?” Eddie asks and Buck lets out a snort, looking at his boyfriend, shaking his head.

“With L.A’s traffic? Might be longer than you think,” Buck responds and he can see Eddie tense for a brief moment before he relaxes.

“I hate the fact that you’re behind a damn glass wall,” Eddie whispers and Buck smiles softly at him, shrugging his shoulders, not sure what else he could say in response. The time goes by more quickly than Buck thought it would, the rest of the team grabbing chairs to sit around the glassed area, all of them talking as Buck points out each plant and what it does, alongside how it’s dangerous. He can tell everyone is impressed and wants to ask him more about his love for plants, but by then, Buck’s throat is practically raw from all of the talking he had been doing.

“How long have we been here?” Buck asks after the room has remained quiet for a while, blinking, wishing there was a part of him that was at home and in bed, if only because of how exhausted he was.

“A few hours,” Chimney responds with his phone in his hand, no doubt texting Buck’s sister. Part of him wants to ask how she’s doing, but if he knows Maddie - she’s worried about him, even though he’s perfectly fine.

“Say hi to Maddie, for me, will you?” He asks instead, leaning back against the wall and letting out a small sigh as he allows himself to slump against the wall. He misses Chimney looking up from his phone and nodding his head before looking back at his phone, but he doesn’t miss Eddie looking at him, eyes narrowing a little.

“What?” Buck asks with a small frown, his body beginning to sweat due to all of the heat lamps in the room.

“You would tell me if you weren’t okay, right?” Eddie asks and there’s something in his voice that has Buck looking at him carefully, arm coming up to wipe at his brows before he nods his head. He wishes he could hold onto Eddie, let him know he’s alright and let him feel comforted but right now he can’t, and it sucks, but there’s nothing else he can do.

“I would tell you, yeah,” Buck whispers, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and looking up at Eddie, with a small frown on his face.

“You know I love you, right?” Buck whispers, because even though they’ve just told one another that phrase, he needs to know Eddie  _ knows _ \- that his actions have shown that he loves the man with practically everything he has in him.

“Of course I do, Buck,” Eddie responds, looking at him carefully, frowning when Buck nods and lets out a breath.

“I have loved you for a very long time Eddie. The day you came over, with Chris, after the tsunami? That’s when I figured it out,” Buck whispers, closing his eyes once more before taking a deep breath and releasing it.

“And I love Christopher, so much,” Buck adds after a moment, blinking, almost feeling delusional. “The moment I saw you two together, waiting for you to get into my car -- I knew you two had my heart, one way or another. You need to tell Chris, okay? That I love him--” Buck says, and he  _ knows _ his headache is getting to him because he’s talking like he’s not going to make it out of here, when that’s definitely not the case.

“I never thought, after everything I put you through, that we would be here right now.” Buck adds and he looks up at his boyfriend with a small smile, eyeing Eddie carefully before continuing, “So I’m going to make sure that everything I do? Isn’t going to mess this up between us,” Buck adds. He can see Eddie take his words in, opening and closing his mouth in surprise before he huffs out a small laugh.

“I am very much going to need to teach you how to stop doubting yourself, especially when it comes to us. And I’m going to need you to stop talking like you’re not getting out of here, Buck, because you said it yourself, there’s nothing majorly dangerous if you don’t touch or ingest anything, and you haven’t--” he adds, nearly sobbing as he does so and Buck can’t help but smile up at Eddie, knowing it’s a thing they talked about before they got together, and he’s about to open his mouth to tease his boyfriend before he jumps in surprise at the front door slamming open, a woman with wild, untamed hair and a crazy look about her coming into the room in a rush. Buck knows immediately that this woman is the botanist and he finds himself straightening up, making eye contact with her when she looks around the room just as wildly as her hair.

“What do we have?” The woman asks, pushing Eddie out of the way, Buck looking at him apologetically when he realizes the woman’s eyes have gone wide when she sees all of the plants inside of the room, and the setup that was made.

“What--” the woman says and Buck smiles softly.

“It appears that the Rafflesia arnoldii and the Titan Arum are currently blooming right now, making the room smell quite terrible,” Buck admits, blowing out a small breath as the woman’s eyes widen even more when she spots the plants themselves.

“How did they even get here?” She asks, her voice airy and light in a way that has Buck trying his best not to cringe.

“I can’t say, since I don’t know. The home has been abandoned for a few months, at least, by all of the dust that’s floating through. If anything, this room’s the cleanest, though I don’t know if that’s because it’s been closed off from everything or another reason,” Buck says and he stays silent for another few minutes as the woman opens the door and walks into the room, gasping at the stench.

“Oh god,” she mutters, plugging her nose before taking out her phone and texting someone, Buck tilting his head in thought.

“I’m texting one of my botanical group chats so they can help carry out these plants and place them somewhere safe. I’ve texted them the address and some of the plants I’ve seen - like the Dracunculus vulgaris,” she says, though her voice is mostly quiet as the rest of the team lean forward to try and hear her - and see the plants.

“You should be good to leave, though.” She says, looking towards Buck who only arches his eyebrow at the woman.

“Leave. You’re sweating, which means the heat lamps are getting to you. You cringed when I arrived, no doubt because of the headache that’s probably formed due to the stench.” She says and Buck opens his mouth before he closes it with a snap, the woman arching her eyebrow at him in a way that reminds him a lot of Athena.

Clearing his throat, Buck nods, before carefully standing up and making his way out of the room, Eddie’s arms grabbing him the moment he’s out of the door, pulling him into his arms and letting Buck soak in the darkness when his head rests against Eddie’s clavicle. He can feel Eddie’s hands on the back of his head, his fingers running through his hair and a small groan escapes from him as he’s carefully dragged away from the glass wall, the pounding in his head continuing.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers softly, moving his head just a little bit to look at Eddie out of the corner of his eyes, Eddie freezing momentarily before he kisses the top of his head and continues to move the two of them until they’re sitting in front of the truck, on the back bumper.

His head is killing him but the moment Eddie pulls away, a small groan escapes from him at the bright light from the sun, eyes slamming shut until Eddie blocks it out, a relieved sigh escaping from him as Buck slowly blinks his eyes open.

“I’m--”

“I know, Buck. I knew the moment you said you loved Christopher that you were mainly rambling. While I don’t doubt your love for him, I know you wouldn’t really--” Eddie stops here, shaking his head and Buck lets out a small smile at his boyfriend, smiling softly. He can see the rest of the team coming out of the home, the other botanists walking up to the home but he doesn’t pay any attention to that, looking at Eddie with slow blinking eyes before smiling, grabbing his boyfriend and pulling him down before kissing him softly, smiling against Eddie’s lips when he feels Eddie smile himself.

“Please tell me our shift is over, and we can go home,” he whispers, snorting when he hears Bobby tell him that their shift is over, and they can go home when they arrive back to the fire-station.

“I was very much hoping we could go home sooner,” Buck admits softly, blinking as Eddie snorts, running his fingers through Buck’s hair before leaning forward to kiss him once more.

“Soon, babe, soon.” Eddie whispers, and carefully, the two of them get into the truck, Eddie shutting the rig carefully so it doesn’t worsen Buck’s headache and Buck finds himself so appreciative of his boyfriend, closing his eyes and letting himself relax into Eddie’s arms as they wrap around him, the rest of the time fading from him as he lets himself fall into a light sleep, knowing Eddie will wake him up when they get back to the station so they can go home. He’s at peace, and to him, that’s perfect after the shift he’s had.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are loved and appreciated. I reply to every comment I receive, so please, send them my way ♥ 
> 
> Ukochany = Beloved in polish.
> 
> All of the plants I used are real, and the plants I imagined in the room can be found [here](https://www.livescience.com/33265-most-disgusting-deadly-flowers.html).


End file.
